


Ghosts of Utopia

by ShianneUrami



Category: Homestuck
Genre: F/M, Pale Romance | Moirallegiance, dystopian au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-27
Updated: 2014-03-27
Packaged: 2018-01-17 06:13:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,052
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1376803
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShianneUrami/pseuds/ShianneUrami
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In a city like this with the looming threat of being culled lurking around every corner, it was best to learn to be light on your feet at all times. Those who didn’t learn that lesson ended up in gutters. A lot of people ended up in gutters.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ghosts of Utopia

**Author's Note:**

> Commission for Obv

Two hands in the lapels of her jacket and a troll’s snarling face inches from hers, “If I catch you and your /pet/ around here again, I’m gonna gut the both of you, you feel me?”

The blood rushed from Roxy’s face before she snarled back up at him, “Oh, I /feel/ ya.”

The troll shoved her away with a sound of disgust and under her breath Roxy muttered, “You’re gonna feel my bullets if you keep being a major grade cocklord too.”

A sharp growl from the aggressor before he snapped his teeth at her, “What was that, human?”

Turning around to look up at him, hair disheveled, she wasn’t very big, even for a human, but she had spunk when it came down to it, a fire in her. Maybe spunk wasn’t always a good thing. She also wasn’t as stupid as people painted her to be. She saw the hackles raised, the narrowed pupils, the bared fangs and she did the smart thing, and backed down. Lowering her shoulders and ducking her head a little she made herself smaller before she bolted.

Feet splashing heavy through the streets, ducking into alleys and skirting through crowds of pedestrians like this was normal for her, practiced. It was. In a city like this with the looming threat of being culled lurking around every corner, it was best to learn to be light on your feet at all times. Those who didn’t learn that lesson ended up in gutters. A lot of people ended up in gutters.

After a few minutes of running, she ducked around a corner and pressed herself flat to the wall to catch her breath, chest heaving. She didn’t know if she’d even been followed, but one could never really be too careful around here. Footsteps obviously, though none rushed or particularly heavy. She’d lost him. He probably hadn’t even been chasing her. Who gave a rat’s ass about a human like her?

Pulling her hood up with a soft sigh she closed herself off to start the walk back to her apartment on the east side of the river, shining with oil and grime. Roxy desperately wished she’d managed to finish calibrating the blown grav thruster on her hoverboard before she’d left work. She hated walking. But alas, she trudged through the streets, trying to keep herself as unassuming as possible. Rules around here were fairly simple: Keep your head down, run fast, don’t drink the water. Not too hard to live by, and live she did.

Glancing up on her walk at one of the billboards high on a building, flickering neon and electric, advertising the upcoming Crocker sponsored Hover Tournament. Jousting and racing and a lot of brutality. A lot of blood. Flickers of subliminal messages made her squeeze her eyes shut, shaking her head. Roxy hopped up the stoop to a dingy little apartment building, pulling her hood back down off her hair as she slipped inside. Looking out at the sky, black with smog and the streets nearly as hopeless looking, she shut the door behind her, taking the stairs two at a time.

Last apartment on the right, keycard swiped through the door. A soft hiss of the pressure release before she slipped through, letting it shut behind her, “Honey, I’m home!”

In the dark of the flat she could hear the rustle in the bedroom, the creak of the old mattress and the thud of horns hitting the headboard, followed by a sluggish curse. It brought a smile to Roxy’s face, the familiarity and predictability of it all. Sollux almost always cracked his horns on the headboard. Roxy dumped her keys and wallet and bag on the counter before she poked her head around the door into the bedroom. He was sitting on the edge of the bed with his head in his hands, thumbs pressed to his temples.

Leaning on the doorcase with a soft smile on her lips Roxy prompted, “You’re gonna snap one of them off if you keep bouncing them off shit like that.” She grinned, a smile with so much light and hope. Light and hope Sollux blatantly ignored as he looked up at her with weary, irritated eyes. He shook his head, flipping her the bird before he flopped back into the bed with a weak groan and stayed there.

With a giggle Roxy pushed herself off the door casing, coming to sit with him on the bed, just plopping her butt down next to his at first before she wiggled her way into the bed fully to wrap an arm around his waist, burying her face into his neck. They laid like that for a while, Sollux’s hand had eventually found hers, thumb stroking over dark skin slowly. Eventually he spoke up, “How did work go?”

Roxy gave him a groan in return, flopping onto her back dramatically, “Just peachy!”

Sollux snickered under his breath and pushed himself up a little, laying on his stomach next to her on their bed. He reached over to wipe a smudge of grease off her cheek and she pressed her face into his hand, batting eyelashes at him with a smirk, “Well aren’t you the pale stud.”

“Like a snow covered mountain, babe,” he smiled, baring teeth in a display she knew was nonthreathening coming from him. He tilted his head, pushing a curl out of her face, “But really, did you get any news?”

Pink eyes scanned over his face, taking in all those sharp features. What a pathetic, scrawny, sad little troll he was. She sighed through her nose, shrugging a shoulder, “Equiqui said I’m gonna be representing the shop in the tournament next week.”

“You, wait you mean in the Crocker tournament coming up?” Sollux’s brow knit, his forehead creasing in that way that made her want to just smooth out all the worry lines. Roxy simply nodded, though. The troll continued, “EQ is sending YOU out to represent the shop in one of the most dangerous environments anyone, let alone a human, could ever get caught up in?”

“Oh no, Honeyveins, you might have to worry about me for a change, what a travesty!” She put a hand to her mouth in a mock gasp before swatting his arm, “And don’t you dare imply that I’m not good enough to play ambassador for the shop, you kiddin’ me Captor? It’s either me or Jade, and I’m pretty sure Jade’s participating. She can’t very well represent on the mechanic’s board if she’s you know, kickin’ ass and blowing off names, right?”

Sollux made a show of rolling his eyes, a crackle of disgust in the back of his throat before he shook his head, “That’s even LESS of the point. He’s potentially losing two employees because he’s sending you assholes off to the chopping block more or less.”

“Oh come on Sol, you’re just being dramatic.” Roxy pushed his face away, dragging her hand down his face and neck to his chest where she rolled onto her stomach, forcing him onto his back and propped herself on his chest, an elbow against his sternum. Sollux wheezed and sparked at her, rolling back over before planting a hand right in the middle of her face a few times.

She melted a little, bursting into giggles before she licked his hand and he squawked and pulled his hand away, wiping it on her shirt, “Gross RX.”

Roxy just giggled more, grinning like a fool at him. He sighed leaning in to rest his forehead against hers. He scrunched his face up and mumbled, “Douchepod.”

“The very cutest!” she chirped, far too pleased with herself right now.

After a few minutes of the two of them laying there on the bed, “You know more people died on the boards last sweep than in the events themselves? People who hadn’t done work up to par or given bad scores in judging. This is serious business RX, and agreeing to go to that, to be part of that festering pustule of commercialism and… /Crocker-ness/ is like signing your own death warrant.”

She didn’t say anything for a long moment, just staring up at the ceiling. Eventually she spoke up, voice soft, “I know you’re worried Sollux, trust me, I get that,” Roxy turned to look at him, “But I have to do this. Idk if Equius would fire me if I didn’t go, he’s a nice enough guy, but if I bowed out now, I’d be diminishing his shop and his name. He could just go himself and he said he would have, if he didn’t have to head out of the city the first two days of the tournament, and swapping representatives is a no go.”

Sollux sighed, dropping his head to her shoulder, “This is as much a challenge to show what you’ve got as a mechanic and an engineer as it is for the participants to show how skilled they are with the craft. I…” Another sigh, edging on a growl.

Roxy picked up a hand, petting his hair slowly, rubbing his back. He hummed a little under her touch and she smiled to hear it. Not quite a purr, Sollux had never been good at purring, but his humming always reassured her he was content at least. She continued to rub his back, “I’m a kick ass fucking mechanic and engineer, they won’t know what hit ‘em, alright? Babe’s will be lining up down the block to have me fix their shit.”

Scoffing a laugh he picked his head up to look her over, sitting up again, “Fucking sap, you are. You’ll be fine.” It sounded an awful lot like he was telling himself she’d be alright rather than reassuring her of that fact.

In truth, Roxy was scared of going. She was afraid of what might happen. She was afraid for herself going out there, she was afraid for Jade participating, she was afraid for Equius leaving the city walls, she was afraid for Sollux here alone to spectate. She sat up too, wrapping an arm around his waist and resting her cheek on his shoulder, “Whatever will you do without me my buzzy bee? Sit around and shooshfap all day?”

A half choked sound caught in Sollux’s throat and he wiggled off the bed and out of her arms, face burning gold. Roxy grinned up at him and he glared back before he huffed at her. She hopped up off the bed to give him a little cheek smooch before slinking around him out into the kitchen, calling over her shoulder, “Sit on the bed watching movies in the quiet with the blankets and healthy food?” She poked her head back around the corner, “Maybe even a bubble bath? Scandalous!”

Another half shriek and he whipped around, “ROXY!”

She squeaked a laugh and ducked away, leaving him standing there, flustered. Sollux groaned loudly before flopping back into their bed, soaking up the warmth she always left behind. He heard her turn the coffee pot on in the kitchen and his embarrassment slowly ebbed away listening to her tinker around in the other room. Exhausted from work the day before it didn’t take much before he was slowly drifting back off to sleep, a small smile on his face.

Sollux was jolted awake, cracking his horns off metal with a sharp hiss and a reverberating clang he felt in his bones.

Reality sunk back in, slow and steady. Sitting in the back of a truck with his coat wrapped around his thin frame, feeling like the world itself were closing in on his think pan. Shivering now and then, clothes damp from the rain outside, others around him in the same state or worse. It was just a dream. He reminded himself that it was just a dream, some long gone memory of something that he’d never have again.

Long, thin fingers pulled his coat around his shoulders tightly and he tucked himself small into the corner of the bed of the truck, his stomach roiling. He’d known then it was going to go badly, he’d asked her not to go, he’d warned her. He’d known somewhere in himself that it wouldn’t end well. And he’d been right.

Sollux only wished he hadn’t been.


End file.
